I got to ride in Ronald McDonald's helicopter!

May 10, 2000

by abhaille

Rating:

+3

Pros: CONSISTENT no matter where you go

Cons: Some of the food is consistently mediocre

I never met Ronald, but I got to ride in his helicopter! My mother worked for this corporation for a good number of years in a number of capacities. I got a perspective on McDonalds that most folks don't have an opportunity to get.

I'd like to explore several areas with regard to this particular chain. I'll start with the food. For the most part, the burgers are adequate. If I'm really hungry, a 99 cent double cheeseburger wolfs down nicely as I drive through on my way to somewhere else. I DO love the fries, and when they are served hot, there's not a lot I like better. I never get to the ketchup if I'm driving. I gobble them up as I negotiate busy Dallas traffic. I always think that when I get to where I'm going that I'll bust out the ketchup, but the fries never last that long.

I LOVE the breakfast burritos. I love Mexican food though... There are a lot of mornings that I drive through one of the locations close to the school and get two breakfast burritos with mild picante sauce and it costs me $2.36. They consist of freshly scrambled eggs, sausage and tomatoes rolled into a large flour tortilla. I'll pull over just out of the drive-through, add my picante sauce and I'm on my way with a nice easy to handle tube of food! The Egg McMuffins are nice, but not what they used to be. The fried egg and ham on an english muffin is nice for a change. The ham used to be better. I think they used to use canadian bacon which was a more generous portion than the ham they now use.

I'm not as crazy about the rest of the menu. McDonald's seems to like to test-market a lot of trendy sandwich ideas, but they never seem to pull off too many of them for very long. The Big Mac is pretty standard, and it is a consistent item. It tastes pretty identically mediocre at just about every location I've had one at. I had one of the "Santa Fe" sandwiches recently, but I don't think I'll have another. The chicken nuggets were very good when they first came out, but now they seem to be made of "parts." Again, they are pretty consistently mediocre.

I like the Coca-Colas at McDonalds. They use a pretty good syrupy mix and is just the way I think a coke should taste. I'm pretty consistently a cola drinker, so I can't say much for the other soft drinks. The coffee served in the mornings is not very good--just REAL hot.

The Promotions

McDonald's knows how to play a game. I look forward every year to the Monopoly game. I like the Happy Meals too. I really enjoy the assorted toys. I have a collection of them in my classroom. My students get a kick out of them and often add ones I don't have. I picked up a few teletubbies recently and have passed them out to my kids. I've never really gotten in there for the beanie baby promotions because in my area the lines are so long that I just avoid the restaurant at that time.

The Company

The Company is a first class operation. The corporate employees are an impressive lot. The level of customer service available is generally excellent. When my mom worked for them, she got nice perks and incentives... the company picnic for example where this kiddo got to take helicopter rides! She had a generous stock option that has been a wonderful investment for her.

Owner/Operator vs. Company Stores

Not all McDonalds are owned by the company itself. There are franchises that have to comply with strict guidelines in order to keep that franchise. The standards are very high. A customer should not have to wait even a whole minute for an order that is "standard" i.e. no special requirements like cutting the onions. I've gotten orders in 30 seconds before when I've gone up to the counter. The cleanliness standards are very high as well. I've rarely seen a slovenly McDonalds.

Decor

This is where they really have fun. I have seem some of the stores really decorated in original ways. One of the stores near my school has a golfing theme with framed golfing scenes and even antique clubs hung on the walls. The one near my home has a wonderful airbrushed mural near the indoor children's play area. The children's play areas are great for toddlers and my children always enjoyed them when they were small. With the small slides and the rooms filled with colorful balls they could have a good time and wear off some of their excess energy.

Overall, we're not talking about gourmet fare here. The food is pretty much the same wherever you go in any part of the country. Reliability is a comforting thing. So is familiarity. After traveling abroad and eating more "exotic" foods, coming home to McDonalds is a welcoming sight.

I normally use the drive thru, but last week I went inside the restaurant to eat. There were several employees and they were all bullying and teasing another young employee. A management-type person was standing right there and did not do ANYTHING! I will not go to a place that condones this type of behavior by its employees - I will now go to a different place for lunch - maybe the burger place across the street.

I like McDonald's especially when I crave for fried food. French fries is good but I only like them with chilli (especially the sweet and hot version; like Thai chilli) sauce and not ketchup. The only burger I eat is Filet-O-Fish and nothing else (oh, may be once in a blue moon the McChicken). McDonald is also great to have when I'm broke! Other than that, I've no idea what the rest of McDonald means ;-) Oh, I do love its hashbrowns! Matter of fact is, … more

There's nothing I can find appealing about McDonald's, as I think they're the epitome of cheap, processed garbage passing as food. Hell, just thinking about their name and image is enough to make my skin crawl. Don't get me wrong, I like fast food when it's done right, but McDonald's and quality are like antonyms. I haven't been to one in five years, and the only things I ate there were the chocolate shakes and fries (which I didn't eat frequently). Ever since … more

Someone has to speak up for McDonald’s. I’ll gladly accept the challenge. I’ve eaten their burgers in cities across the nation since 1964 and I’m still munching with delight. The regular hamburger is my favorite, with the perfect combination of soft bun, meat patty, catsup, mustard, dill pickle and chopped onion. For the price, I’m always surprised by the consistency, the lack of grease, the flavor and the…well, unami. Transfat? … more

The least favorite of fast food options, I'll only eat here as an absolute last resort and I'm starving to near death. I used to like their fries until I tried Carl's Jr's which are far better. I think that Mickey D's has long ago given up on any sort of quality and gone for profit and expansion. When I'm traveling, I get a little frustrated that this fast food place is in a culinary city like Paris or somewhere where travellers should be encouraged to try the local cuisine which is going to be … more

The French Fries at McDonald's are about all I will eat there. They are probably one of the better fast food fries around. Otherwise, watch out for the chicken nuggets which are made of sketchy excess chicken parts that are turned into paste, dyed and re-modeled into what resembles a nugget. Yum, yum.

Personally McDs makes me sick to eat anymore except for the occasional breakfast sandwich, but they do serve their purpose. As a person that home cooks most of my children's meals, happy meals now and then can be effective tools for treats for them and they can burn off most of the crap they eat playing on the play structure until they are worn out.

It's hard to say what you can get at a McDonalds these days. After I moved I got to experience a whole new slew of fast food locales with more visits then I have in teh past. The more I ate at them, the more I realized that McDonalds can't cut it for me in my fastfood diet anymore. Sure they're fries are okay, and only okay. Compared to the freshness of In N Out fries or the beefiness of Wendy's … more

Wiki

McDonald's is the world's largest fast food chain, serving more than 47 million customers daily, and having more than 31,000 locations worldwide. The restaurant serves traditional American foods like burgers, fries, shakes, and chicken, and has branched out into other foods in recent years, such as salads, Mexican cuisine, and snack wraps.

McDonald's has come under heavy criticism in recent years for its role in contributing to growing obesity trends in many nations. As a response, the company prints nutrition information on many food wrappers, in addition to serving healthier fares such as salads.

The company was founded in San Bernardino, CA, in 1940, and is currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. As of 2008, the company had over 380,000 employees worldwide.